The present invention relates to a display control device which is usable in various fields such as a computer information processing system, a multimedia information communication device, a broadcasting or reproducing video output device, etc., that is, in various systems having an image display function.
In general, a monitor display is provided as a constituent element of a system to display data to an user in each of various fields such as an information processing equipment, an information communication equipment, an information recording and reproducing equipment, an amusement equipment, etc. On the monitor, various display frames are displayed such as a menu frame using characters and icons, a control frame, etc., searched data, images, etc. The control frame is frequently displayed in a window mode.
In such a system, in some cases, a picture which is completely irrelevant to an actual work is displayed in addition to a display portion required for the actual work. Further, a display picture which is irrelevant to works is also displayed as a screen saver. However, an environmental picture that varies in connection with a real time has not been hitherto proposed as a display which is not directly associated with an actual work.
For example, if it is possible to display on the screen pictures representing an environmental variation of the surroundings or the outdoors on real-time basis when a user is immersed into a work while watching a screen of the monitor, it could be expected to make the user comfortable on even such an inorganic hardware and make the user feel the environmental variation. Therefore, an information display device which is capable of performing such a display operation has been required.